


Long Hair Is Better

by unknown_knowns



Series: The One Good Thing in Seattle (Side stories) [2]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: College, F/F, Lots of it, No Drama, Or angst, Slice of Life, alternative universe, just fluff, revolving POV, v. saccharine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8085853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_knowns/pseuds/unknown_knowns
Summary: Max and Victoria talk hair.Nathan helps.Max wonders what her relationship with Nathan really is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Friends.
> 
> This vignette is concurrent with ["Diametrically Opposed"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8027380/chapters/18380305). I don't know why you'd read this without reading that, but in case you're weird like that, Max and Victoria are girlfriends, and were old friends before that. 
> 
> This is pretty much pure slice-of-life fluff, but it was an adorable thought I had in my head that I had to get out.
> 
> This was cut (early) from DO since I felt like it slowed down pacing too much, and also I couldn't find a good place to fit it in. Chronologically it sits in somewhere between chapter 3 and 4, but doesn't really belong in either.
> 
> As always, comments mean a lot to me, and I'll try to reply to them all.

 

Max frowned.

It was late in the afternoon, a little bit before bed.

She was fussing with her hair.

Max tried to maneuver her bangs around. Rachel’s hair often parted such that a few strands would come down to cover various parts of her face, and Max decided she really liked the way that looked.

She was in Victoria’s apartment. In her bathroom.

Victoria’s apartment was much nicer than Max’s dorm room.

It was still on campus, too.

Since a month or so ago, Max had all but moved in to Victoria’s room, and had neither had any quarrels with the arrangement. Max was in her own room only rarely these days, mostly when she wanted some quiet time, since being around either of Victoria or Nathan could be distracting.

To say the least.

Victoria’s room was plenty large enough to support them both comfortably, anyway.

Her bed was much more comfy and large. It felt like they could fit everyone in the school in it and still have room left over for activities.

And she had a dedicated bathroom.

Max was so jealous of it.

It was so nice to wake up, laze right out of bed into a private shower, without bothering with clothes or any of her showering equipment.

It was all right there for her.

She just had to get used to Nathan seeing more than she’d probably want him otherwise to, first. He wasn’t always in here in the mornings, but there was an alarming ratio going on and Max was still adjusting.

He at least understood, and would toss her something to allow her to stay decent, or look away. That was fine. What was more alarming was how infrequently he was asleep during the odd hours of the night and morning.

He meant well. Max didn’t realize how important Nathan’s relationship with Victoria was to him until after Max pretty well moved in. Nathan needed Victoria to keep him calm and steady. He’d rant to her whenever something got him a little bit too much upset. Victoria would either comfort him or just give him a sympathetic ear.

Max would find something else to do so as to not to snoop as she was really trying to do less of that. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little bit curious in what was going on with Nathan, though. Max liked helping people. Nathan sure needed a lot of that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sleepy-looking Victoria in a night gown ambling into the room and resting her arms on Max’s shoulders.

Victoria’s arms draped downwards lazily.

She had on a soft smile and her eyes were slightly lidded.

“Why don’t you come to bed? I’m lonely.”

“Nooooo.”

Max pouted but she was so focused on her hair and had on this adorable look of concentration plastered on her face.

Victoria couldn’t help but smile wider.

Still, she did want to actually go to bed.

“Why not?”

Victoria moved her eyes from looking down at Max to looking at her through the mirror, just watching her fuss.

“I need to figure out what to do with my hair.”

Victoria inhaled briskly in a faint snort.

“You do? Since when do you care about your hair?”

Max wasn’t unbalanced. Victoria would often poke at the way Max wore clothes or presented herself in various ways, and Max knew she didn’t really mean much harm by it.

If anything, it was helpful to have someone more mindful of their appearance around. Max’s friends would always say she looked better if she listened to Victoria.

Plus, Max could tease Victoria for days about her nerdy interests, so this was more of a playful war at a stalemate than a one-sided slaughter.

And Victoria _was_ right about this. Max had habitual bed hair and very rarely had hers under any semblance of control.

Max kept focusing on her hair and responded easily.

“Since now. Help me, ‘Tori.”

Victoria sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Then grow your hair out longer.”

Max frowned.

“My hair _is_ long.”

Victoria tiredly shook her head.

“No it’s not. I mean like, down to your back.”

Max continued to frown. She tried to visualize herself with longer hair.

Like Rachel?

Max shook her head. Not a lot, since Victoria was basically resting on it, but it was the thought that counted.

“What would I do with it longer?”

Victoria hummed gently. She closed her eyes to visualize it better.

“I’d put it into a pony tail. You’d pull off that well.”

Max’s frown deepened, but out of concentration.

“What about short hair?”

Max really liked Victoria’s shorter hair. It always looked so controlled and maintained. So perfect.

Max also knew how long Victoria spent maintaining it, but, still. Max could find a shorter hair style that didn’t demand as much attention.

Victoria shook her head and slowly opened her eyes.

“Um, _no_. I don’t think that’ll work for you. You don’t have the cheek bones or ---“

Victoria was interrupted by Nathan’s voice, coming from inside of the bedroom.

“She means she has a fetish for longer hair.”

Victoria’s mouth just hung open stupidly.

She then blushed madly and looked away to somewhere else in the bathroom.

“Thank you _so much_ for that, Nathan.”

Victoria projected her voice backwards, out of the bathroom, sharply.

“Anytime, V.”

Max giggled.

Max then raised her voice as Victoria had a few seconds ago.

“Hey Nate, what do you think of short hair on a girl?”

There was a brief moment of hesitation. Max could _already_ visualize him sighing, rolling his eyes, and putting his drink down.

He drank too much. Too much soda to keep him awake, too much alcohol to keep him calm.

Eventually,

“Fuckin’ hot.”

Max grinned stupidly and stopped playing with her hair to look at Victoria through the mirror.

Victoria sighed again, pulling away from Max to cross her arms.

“Oh fuck _off_. Watch this.”

Victoria raised her voice again.

“Nathan, _sweetie_ , what do you think of long hair?”

A reply came more quickly this time.

“Fuckin’ hot.”

Now it was Victoria’s turn to put on her most stupid grin.

Max deflated and pouted for a little bit.

Max then opened her mouth to say something, but Nathan cut her off.

“Wait, like a Mohawk? That shit’s even hotter.”

Both of them were caught off-guard by the comment.

Max’s mouth opened wider.

Victoria’s eyes went wide.

Max turned around.

Victoria gripped at her own arms more tightly.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Max.”

“Yes.”

“ _Max._ ”

“Yeeeeesss.”

Max giggled and flew right towards Victoria, colliding with her and tightly wrapping her arms around in a compressing hug.

Victoria was still pretty tired and definitely wasn’t expecting a Max comet colliding with her, so she was uneasily pushed back towards the tile of the bathroom with a grunt.

Her hands had come up to try and catch Max but her arms just ended up by her sides with Max’s forceful hug keeping them there.

She groaned.

“Fuck off. You are _not_ wearing a Mohawk.”

But Victoria’s protests didn’t matter. Max was still giggling like mad and had tucked her face deep into Victoria’s shoulders.

She couldn’t really cross her arms and try to look pouty when Max was consuming most of her available chest space like this. She’d just end up hugging Max.

And Max knew that perfectly well.

Which is one of the very many reasons she preferred to snuggle with Victoria like this.

“Aw, come on. Let your girl wear her hair how she wants.”

Nathan’s voice had them both looking towards him.

Neither of them had noticed Nate coming to lean against the door frame between the bedroom and bathroom.

His arms were crossed.

But he was smiling.

Grinning, almost.

Max liked it when he did that.

Max giggled.

“Yeah ‘tori, let _your girl_ wear her hair how she wants.”

Victoria groaned viciously and shot Nathan one of her harder glares.

“I am outnumbered by people with the fashion sense of a toad.”

She then looked back to Max. Or as much as she could, given the position.

“ _Fine_. Max _ine_ , I’ll let you ruin your hair however you want near Halloween. I’ll just tell everyone you’re getting ready for a silly costume.”

Max hummed thoughtfully and buried her face back into Victoria’s shoulders. Victoria still cared a lot about how they appeared in public.

Sometimes it bothered her.

Most of the times, it kept her from doing something obscenely silly, like wear a Mohawk because one of her friends suggested it on a whim.

“Let that Rachel chick dress her. Max could rock the shit out of one of those plaid shirts. Then you can pretend you have a Mini-Rachel and stop being so jealous.”

Nathan’s voice was almost playful now.

Victoria blushed furiously and narrowed her eyes.

“I am _not_ …”

But she couldn’t even really finish the sentence with a straight face, and looked away to the floor.

She still couldn’t cross her arms to pout since Max was still _right there._

Max tightened her hug.

Nathan just laughed and disengaged, moving back into the bedroom.

His job was done.

Max continued to hum, just enjoying Victoria’s presence for a while and giving her a chance to recover.

Eventually, when the blush settled down and Victoria’s composure was back,

“Hey.”

Max’s voice was soft now, gentle. She was done teasing. She moved her face upwards since she knew her breathing would distract Victoria if Max’s face was buried in her shoulder. Victoria would shiver.

And while Max liked having that effect on her an awful lot, it’s not what she wanted right now.

Victoria sighed.

She snaked her arms out from under Max’s death grip and allowed them to come around to embrace her girlfriend.

She looked back to Max from the floor.

“Hey, you nerd.”

Max smiled.

“I can wear my hair a bit longer. Is Nate right?”

Victoria nodded gently. She tried to ignore any blush that came to her cheeks.

“Yes. Yes, he is. So … you’ll wear it as a pony tail _in public_. Then … just for me … let it down.”

Max placed a few kisses along Victoria’s neck and jaw line.

Victoria shivered and sighed contently.

“I think I can do that. I think I’d rather enjoy you having more hair to pet.”                                                                                            

Max’s voice was distant and breathless.

They both smiled warmly for a few moments.

Max slowly moved up to gently kiss at Victoria.

It was careful and gentle. They kissed a few times for various lengths.

It was the kind of kissing that left Max even more giggly and excited than when she started.

It was the kind of kissing that could go on for hours and Max wouldn’t be the wiser.

The kind of kissing that would leave her breathless even if she had plenty of opportunities to catch her breath and composure.

When they stopped with some sense of finality, Max just continued to look up dreamily at her girlfriend.

Victoria gained a serious look on her face all of the sudden.

“Mademoiselle Friellene has some interesting ideas about how to work with short hair with a cute face like yours, anyway. After we shave that _thing_ off of your head we should be able to make you presentable.”

Max couldn’t help but giggle.

“You were thinking about that the entire time?”

“No!”

Her defense came out too readily and her tone was a bit too pinched.

Victoria was definitely thinking about that the entire time.

Max kept on giggling and assaulted Victoria’s sides until she giggled as well.

Victoria squirmed and pushed the assaulting brown-haired gremlin away until Max reluctantly broke away to just stand next to her with a stupid lopsided grin on her face.

Victoria composed herself.

“Okay, come on. We should get to bed. The children in the room are getting too rowdy.”

Max nodded tiredly and allowed Victoria to drag her out of the bathroom, into the bedroom, and into the bed.

“Goin’ to go destroy some party. Then I’ll pr’lly crash here later. Don’t wait up. And sleep with the damn covers on this time.”

Nathan spoke back to them from near the door leading out of the apartment.

Victoria rolled her eyes.

Max just blushed.

Victoria gave him a pleasant wave goodbye, which Max joined in on after a minor delay.

He left and locked the door behind him.

They made their way underneath the sheets of the bed.

Somewhere along the way they lost their clothes.

Max didn’t like being naked, but she liked feeling this kind of vulnerable with Victoria. Particularly when the covers would keep them decent.

Victoria wasn’t going to complain.

Max sighed contently and entangled herself with Victoria.

Max wasn’t really sure what kind of family she had with Victoria and Nathan, now.

She couldn’t really call him just a friend. He knew an obscene amount about her from her relationship with Victoria. And Max didn’t usually make a habit of being half-dressed around her friends.

Come to think of it, Max didn’t usually make a habit of letting her friends see her intimate slice-of-life squabbles with Victoria, either.

Chloe would know whenever they fought or had issues, but Max wasn’t going to tell her about this hair moment, or a lot of the other stuff only Nathan was privy to. Chloe certainly wouldn’t be invited to interject into these matters, either, unlike Nathan.

It was weird. Max couldn’t fit easy labels to a lot of her relationships. Chloe defied most of them, and now, so did Nathan.

She sighed again.

Nathan wasn’t all that bad.

Victoria trusted him immensely.

He had keys to the apartment.

So did Max, but he didn’t live here like she did.

He was just a frequent occupant.

Max knew that they confided in each other pretty much everything.

Nathan was the only one out of Victoria’s social circle that knew how much she cared for Max. Before they became girlfriends, anyway.

And while Max was getting to that point of being a person Victoria could confide in anything with, there was still those years of radio silence that would take a while to recover from.

Victoria wasn’t entirely comfortable showing Max quite all of her unguarded flaws, and still wanted to impress her. Victoria had no pretenses like that with Nathan.

Max found herself trusting Nathan just from the degree of trust Victoria put into him. She couldn’t say it was misplaced, either. Nathan was fiercely loyal in a way that reminded her of Chloe.

Max still wasn’t entirely comfortable around him, though. Particularly when it came to her night time activities with Victoria.

But she was warming up to him, slowly.

Besides, Nathan could use some more healthy friendships.

And if he meant something to Victoria, he meant something to Max.

Nathan could use a second hand comforting him when things got hard.

Nathan didn’t deserve how awful his family or up-bringing were.

“A Mohawk would look terrible with a plaid over shirt … You need to be more punk rock if you’re really going to do that.”

Max was kicked out of her thoughts by Victoria’s dreamy murmuring into her hair.

Victoria was _still_ caught up on the Mohawk.

And Max found it the cutest thing ever.

“I’ll ask Chloe to dress me sometime, then.”

Victoria groaned weakly.

“Shut up and kiss me so I can get that thought out of my head.”

So she did.

The kissing was enough to dislodge Max from any further thoughts about Nathan she’d have for the night.

Or really, any thoughts that didn’t involve her grumpy girlfriend.

They soon fell asleep, just nestled together.


End file.
